Witnesses: Pro-, anti-junta forces clash in Mali

Witnesses say pro- and anti-junta forces have clashed in Mali's capital, just over a month since a group of soldiers toppled the country's democratically elected president.

Bakary Doucoure, an eyewitness, said there was fighting Monday around the building that houses the country's national broadcaster and that ambulances were at the scene.

The broadcaster has been in the hands of the military junta ever since the March 21 coup. Since the coup, the mutinous soldiers have handed over power to an interim civilian government, but the exact role of the junta remains unclear.

Another eyewitness, Fela Ba, says he saw a large convoy of military vehicles heading to the town of Kati just outside Bamako, where the junta has set up its headquarters.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

BAMAKO, Mali (AP) - Armed groups and soldiers have committed war crimes during the recent conflict in north Mali, an international rights watchdog said in a report Monday, calling on the commanders of the groups to stop the abuses and punish those responsible.

Human Rights Watch said it had documented crimes by separatist Tuareg rebels, armed Islamist groups, Arab militias and Malian government forces, especially in the first two weeks of April. Tuareg rebels raped young girls, Islamist militants carried out public floggings and government forces arbitrarily detained ethnic Tuaregs, it said.

"The commanders of these groups need to stop the abuses, ensure discipline over their fighters, and appropriately punish those in their ranks responsible for these crimes," said Corinne Dufka, senior Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch.

Tuareg separatist fighters and Islamic militants took advantage of the chaos caused by a coup in Bamako last month to quickly advance and capture the three main towns in the north of Mali at the end of March.

Mali government forces fled south without putting up any major resistance.

Human Rights Watch said in the immediate aftermath of the Malian troops' departure, fighters with the separatist National Movement for the Liberation of the Azawad raped a number of girls and young women.

Witnesses described the abductions by rebels of at least 17 women and girls as young as 12, the report said, and the vast majority of the perpetrators were assumed to be members of the NMLA.

NMLA fighters were also partly responsible for wide scale looting, the report said. No NMLA spokesperson could be immediately reached for comment.

A spokesman for the Islamist group, Ansar Dine, denied allegations contained in the report that they had cut the hand of a alleged thief in the town of Kidal, or summarily executed anyone accused of theft.

Senda Ould Boumama said he could not confirm the reports of a public flogging in Gao of a man who was accused of drinking alcohol. He said, however, that such punishment was not out of the question as the group is trying to impose Shariah law.

"Under shariah, if you drink you can be whipped. I think we just have very different views on human rights," Ould Boumama said.

The report said that all the nongovernment groups in the north of Mali were using child soldiers.

"It is possible that we have people with us who are under 18," Ould Boumama said. "There are students with us who are learning Islam. I don't see the problem with that."

Malian government troops are accused in the testimony gathered by the group of detaining and executing at least four Tuareg members of the Malian security services in early April in the town of Sevare.

The Malian Armed Forces are undergoing major restructuring since the coup, and no one was available to comment on the allegations.